Islington becomes first entire 20mph zone but police won't enforce it

The first blanket 20mph zone will be introduced in a London borough from next week after more than two years of planning.

Islington council is set to agree the proposals but there are concerns about who will monitor motorists after the town hall and police failed to agree over enforcement.

The speed restriction zone will be imposed on all council-run main roads in a bid to drive down rising numbers of cyclist and pedestrian injuries.

Last year there were 245 bicycle accidents in Islington, 24 of which were serious and one of which was fatal. There were 193 motorcycle collisions, with one fatal and 24 serious.

The restriction is already in force on residential streets but will not include Transport for London-run arterial roads, such as the A1.

But there is confusion between Islington council and the Met about how the new zones will be policed.

Police told councillors that it was too expensive to spend their time on the policy and they would not crack down on motorists if residents complained.

The zones will in effect be self-policing, using 20mph road signs until the council and Met reach an agreement.

Paul Convery, Islington's executive member for transport, said the Labour-run council was sticking with the zone because of a "disproportionate number of collisions between bicycles and motorcycles and other traffic".

He said: "A pedestrian has a 90 per cent chance of surviving if hit by a car travelling at 20mph, in comparison with a 50 per cent chance of survival if hit by a car travelling at 30mph."

Mr Convery added: "The police say they don't support it because they don't want to enforce it. It's low priority for the police. They don't have much money and have to deal with crime and anti-social behaviour."

The Met told Islington council: "Based on your proposal, police would object...and the Association of Chief Police Officers' stance is that they would not be enforced by police if local residents complained following their installation." The 20mph zone was proposed by former Green Party councillor Katie Dawson.

A Met spokesman said: "These zones are designed to be "self enforcing" through measures such as speed humps, speed tables and chicanes."